DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 28 OCT 2017

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 28 OCT 2017

(DAILY NEWS INDIA)

                                  SHARED BY: WWW.DAILYGK.IN

1.      PM MODI INAUGURATES INT’L CONFERENCE ON CONSUMER PROTECTION

i. PM Narendra Modi inaugurated 2-day International Conference on Consumer Protection for east, south and Southeast Asian countries in New Delhi. This conference is being hosted by the Department of Consumer Affairs under Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

ii. Theme of this conference is ‘Empowering Consumers in New Markets’. Representatives from 22 countries from East, South and South-East Asia participated in this conference.

iv. During the course of this conference, six working sessions will be held on subjects of United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection and Implementation, protection of online consumers, stakeholder participation in consumer protection, consumer empowerment through education, fostering consumer inclusion in financial services and protection of vulnerable groups of consumers.

2.      INTERNATIONAL PUPPET FESTIVAL BEGINS IN KOLKATA

i. 6-day ‘International Puppet Festival’ began in Kolkata, West Bengal. This festival is christened Puppets Unite Neighbours.

ii. The festival is aimed to revive interest in puppet art in India and to bring together puppeteers from different countries. Puppeteers from countries like the UK, Germany, Portugal, Italy, Peru, Lithuania, Brazil and Singapore will perform during the course of this 6-day festival.

iii. Through these performances, visitors will get information about various puppet art forms viz. glove, shadow, knee, giant, human, theatre, street, interactive and balloon puppetry.

iv. Indian puppeteers including Ravi Bhat of ‘Kath Putli’ (Jaipur), Jitendra Advani of ‘Masti Maker Human Puppet’ (Jaipur)  and Sudip Gupta of ‘Dolls Theater’ (Kolkata) will also perform at this International Puppet Festival.

3.      PIYUSH GOYAL LAUNCHES RAILWAY’S FIRST SET OF SOLAR PLANTS WITH CAPACITY OF 5 MW

i. Union Railway Minister, Piyush Goyal launched railway’s 1st set of solar plants with a total capacity of 5 megawatt peak installed on the roof tops of Hazrat Nizamuddin, New Delhi, Anand Vihar and Delhi railway stations. Mr. Goyal launched these plants at the inauguration of the International Conference on Green Initiatives and Railway Electrification. Piyush Goyal launches Railway's first set of solar plants with capacity of 5 MW.

ii. These plants will generate will generate 76.5 lakh units of solar power cumulatively per year. 30% of the energy requirement of these stations will be fulfilled by these plants and will thereby result in annual savings of Rs 421.4 lakh for Indian Railways.

iii. Besides, it will also reduce 6082 tonnes of CO2 emissions. This project was awarded in December 2016 and has been set up at a cost of Rs.37.45 crore under government’s National Solar Mission.

iv. Under National Solar Mission, Indian Railways plans to commission 1000 MWp solar plants across its network.

4.      ARUNACHAL PRADESH CM PEMA KHANDU INAUGURATES TAWANG FESTIVAL

i. Arunachal Pradesh CM Pema Khandu inaugurated the 5th edition of Tawang festival, at Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh.

ii. Arunachal Pradesh CM Pema Khandu inaugurated the Tawang festival. The North Eastern Council secretary Ram Muivah inaugurated the traditional games and sports competition.

iii. Exhibition stalls were inaugurated by the chief minister. They contain products and materials from horticulture, agriculture, forest and textile departments, NGOs and local community bodies. The Tawang festival is held for four days. Street show is held for three days. The show will also have cultural presentation from Adi, Nyishi and Monpa tribe.

5.      KIREN RIJIJU INAUGURATES SPECIAL CENTRE FOR DISASTER RESEARCH AT JNU

i. Minister of State for Home Affairs Shri Kiren Rijiju inaugurated the Special Centre for Disaster Research at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi. The centre will offer Masters and Doctorate programmes in Disaster Risk Management.

ii. For the first year, the centre will focus on disaster research in North Eastern states of India. At the inauguration ceremony, Mr. Rijiju also launched the website of the Special Centre for Disaster Research.

iii. He also released the book ‘Disaster Law, Emerging Thresholds’ by Prof. Amita Singh, who is the first Chairperson of Special Centre for Disaster Research.

iv. The inauguration took place during the 2-day seminar on ‘Disasters and Community Resilience in the Northeastern States’, organised by JNU.

6.      4TH ASEAN DEFENSE MINISTERS MEETING PLUS HELD IN CLARK, PHILIPPINES

i. The 4th ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting-Plus was held in Clark, Philippines. The meeting was chaired by Secretary of National Defence of the Philippines Delfin Lorenzana.

ii. Defence department leaders from 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations and 8 dialog partners participated. They delivered speeches on regional security situations and issues of common concern.

iii. Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman represented India. This is her first foreign visit after taking charge as Defence Minister.

iv .At the ADMM-Plus, Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister Gen. Chang Wanquan held bilateral talks with the defence ministers of Russia, Singapore, Malaysia and the Republic of Korea.

v. Also, Philippines and Russia signed two agreements: Agreement for Military-Technical Cooperation between the two countries and a contract for the Philippines’ procurement of defence articles from Rosoboronexport, a Russian company.

7.      ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK SIGNS $65.5 MN LOAN WITH GOI TO SUPPORT COASTAL PROTECTION IN KARNATAKA

i. International financial institution, Asian Development Bank has signed a USD 65.5 million loan agreement with Government of India for checking coastal erosion on the western coast of Karnataka.

ii. This is the 2nd tranche of a USD 250 million financing facility under the Sustainable Coastal Protection and Management Investment Programme. The loan agreement was signed in Bengaluru by Sameer Kumar Khare, Joint Secretary (Multilateral Institutions), Union Finance Ministry and ADB’s country director Kenichi Yokoyama.

iii. Funds procured through this loan will be deployed for immediate coastal protection needs and for strengthening institutional capacity of Karnataka’s public works, ports and inland water transport department.

iv. Coastal erosion in Karnataka is turning out to be a high risk to human wellbeing, economic development and ecological integrity.

8.      AP CM NAIDU RECEIVES ‘GOLDEN PEACOCK AWARD’ IN LONDON

i. Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu received the Golden Peacock Award, at the 17th London Global Convention, held in London. Chandrababu Naidu received the ‘Golden Peacock Award’ under the category, Global Leadership in Public Service and Economic Transformation.

ii. Nara Bhuvaneswari, Chandrababu Naidu’s wife and managing director of the Heritage Foods received ‘Golden Peacock Award’ under the category Corporate Governance and Sustainability.

iii. The Golden Peacock Award was instituted by the Institute of Directors of India in 1991. This award is regarded as a benchmark of corporate excellence worldwide.

iv. Earlier recepients of this award are anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare, agricultural scientist MS Swaminathan, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit.

9.      AMANPREET WINS BRONZE AT ISSF WORLD CUP FINAL

i. India’s Amanpreet Singh secured 3rd place in the 50-metre pistol final at the International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup Final in Delhi. He shot 76 out of 80 targets, three behind gold medallist Hu Binyuan.

ii. This is Sangram’s first-ever medal in senior level, earlier he had won a gold at the Asian Shooting Championship for junior back in 2009 and silver in World cup.

iii. This was India’s first individual medal in the ongoing edition of the prestigious tournament. Overall, this was the host nation’s second medal in the tournament following Jitu Rai and Heena Sidhu’s gold in 10m mixed air pistol on the opening day.

10.  WORLD DAY FOR AUDIOVISUAL HERITAGE – OCTOBER 27

i. World Day for Audiovisual Heritage was observed all over the world. The World Day for Audiovisual Heritage is celebrated to mark the adoption, of the Recommendation for the Safeguarding and Preservation of Moving Images, by the 21st General Conference, in 1980.

ii. Theme for The World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2017 is “Discover, remember and share”. This day aims to create awareness to preserve and acknowledge the importance of audiovisual documents.

iii. The World Day for Audiovisual Heritage is an initiative taken mainly by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the Coordinating Council of Audiovisual Archives Associations.